All's Fair in Love and War
by memoire
Summary: "We're gods, not monsters," said Zeus. "Then what of the atrocities that we committed? The destruction that we rained upon the group and the millions of lives that died from it?" Zeus looked down. "I don't know anymore Poseidon, I don't know." Slight OOC.


"We're gods, not monsters," said Zeus. He paced back and forth on the marble floor of the throne room, arms crossed across his chest. His eyes are tired and fatigued; his back was bent and he didn't stand with the same imperious posture that he did before. "We fight the monsters, one of our jobs is to vanquish them into Tartarus. How can we be the same thing that we are fighting?"

"Then what of the atrocities that we committed?" Poseidon answered, moving his hands in agitation. "The destruction that we rained upon the world and the millions of lives that died from it? What of the mortal lives that we have destroyed? For centuries, no, for millenniums, we were considered the protectors of human life. Now look at us, we are the cause of 60 million deaths."

Zeus stopped and looked down. "I don't know anymore Poseidon, I don't know. All I know is that Hades is defeated, that the world is at peace, and that the pain has stopped."

"Peace?" Poseidon spat. His normally calm green eyes were alight with anger. "There will never be peace, not with us gods around stirring up trouble over the most trivial things like we usually do. We always say that we will change, that we won't get into anymore disputes and that we'll be a family and not act a family. Now look at us! We tore each other apart. What do you say now Zeus? What do you say now?"

Zeus didn't say anything.

* * *

The grand throne room of Olympus was a dismal place. The twelve Olympian gods were seated in their respective thrones, all eyeing each other with suspicion and fear. Hestia was tending the hearth like she always does, but instead of a blazing fire, there were a few hot coals. Ever since the war started, the fire was low and can barely provide enough heat for one person.

The atmosphere was tense; no one was smiling. Apollo, for once, did not sprout out a lyrical poet and Artemis didn't reprimand him. Aphrodite was dressed plainly in red and Ares, despite all this war, looked down at his hands. Dionysus does not have a bottle of alcohol in his hands and Hephaestus does not have a glamour on. None of the gods were acting like themselves.

Hades stood disgraced in the center in chains. He was dressed in a black coat and tie. The clothes hid the crisscrossing scars that was inflicted upon him by the gods, primarily Poseidon. His black hair was a mess and his mouth was twisted in a scowl. "This is your idea of 'closure?'" snapped Hades. "By torturing me for your petty revenge? That's hardly justifiable."

"Quiet brother!" said Poseidon. At that instant, the oceans shook with his anger, drowning a man off the coast of the Atlantic "One of your children got out of control and went on a bloody rampage throughout Europe. Not only he caused chaos there, he took the war to other places in the world and to the sea and to the sky! You even supported his dream of world domination for Olympus's sake."

"You're always going on lectures on how we should spend more time with our children," retorted Hades, his eyes smoldering. "So I supported my son like a good father would. Is there anything wrong with that? It's not like you're any better destroying towns and ships through tsunamis - and I'm the villain here?"

Posiedon's face turned red and was about to issue a scathing answer back to Hades when Zeus intervened. Out of all the gods, he was the one who suffered the most due to the battles fought in the Pacific theater between the Japanese and Americans: ships were blown up, men died, and kamikazes fell from the sky. It seemed to Posiedon that the oceans were not longer blue, but red from the blood of the fallen.

The god of the sea got his revenge soon enough. He sent an earthquake through Japan's spine and tsunamis on it's shores. It didn't heal the hole in his heart though, where his dead children used to be. He made sure that the sea gently carried their bodies to the bottom of the ocean, where they would rest there for all of eternity.

Zeus was tired of all this fighting, all of them were. The world barely got through the first one, and now it was on the brink of destruction because of the second one. May the Fates forgive if there ever should be a third one. Zeus thought if there should ever be another world war, then all of humanity would be annihilated and the gods will eventually fade into nonexistence.

If his brothers' quarrel should ever exceed beyond the state it is in now, then World War III would start merely a few days after the previous one ended. Zeus had to agree with Posiedon, this was Hades's fault, specifically his children's fault. Adolf Hitler was an abomination to all living things on earth and all the gods were glad that he is not alive anymore.

"Enough," boomed Zeus. Lightning flashed across the sky in great arcs commanding the attention of all the gods. He wasn't totally on Hades's side; his brother have done enough damage to him from the London Blitz (and other sky battles) and he wanted vengeance. "There has been enough conflict to last several hundred lifetimes. Hades will get his punishment accordingly, though not directly."

Hades narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What do you mean by not directly? So you're not subjecting me to further torture?"

"Yes and no," Zeus answered. "It really all depends on how you define 'torture.' We're not going to hurt you anymore physically wise, but perhaps emotionally. I understand that you have two children and a wife left in Washington D.C., correct?"

A realization hit the god of the underworld and he widened his eyes in fear. No, they wouldn't dare do that to me. They wouldn't dare... Hades saw the resolute look in his brother's face and saw that he was absolutely going to do it.

"I'm sorry brother," Zeus said with the smallest trace of sympathy. "But all's fair in love and war. You of all people should understand that to well that sometimes to inflict pain on another person, you have to strike the thing that they hold most dear to their heart. Take this as a warning dear brother, a warning to Posiedon, you, and me, that our children are our greatest weakness."

Zeus snapped his fingers. Hades created a black shield in the Lotus Hotel.

On earth, two children screamed as lightning struck. On Olympus, a husband's anguished cried reverberated throughout the world.

* * *

 **I was always interested in what the gods were like during major conflicts in history, the most intriguing being World War II - an event that, in my opinion, had a great impact in the PJO storyline (and of course in real life).**

 **School's ending in about a month so I have that to look forward, that and finals. This year has been long and I'm glad it's over. This is going to be the last story I will write until June since you know, finals are a pain and I have a ton of books to read and projects to do... I regret everything.**


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